Morton Tinslar Seligman: Naval Hero, Part I

Posted on October 22, 2014 by Amy

Midshipman Morton Tinslar Seligman c. 1918
Courtesy of Arthur Scott

The story of Morton Tinslar Seligman is a fascinating one. Morton, the son of James Leon and Ruth Seligman and my first cousin twice removed, was a decorated Navy hero in World War I and in World War II, but his name is also clouded by accusations that he leaked important classified information to a member of the press after the Battle of the Coral Sea during World War II.

Morton was born on July 1, 1895, in Salt Lake City, but grew up in Santa Fe, attended the University of New Mexico and then the US Naval Academy, from which he graduated in June, 1918, as described earlier. After he graduated from Annapolis, he was commissioned as an ensign and was assigned to the U.S.S. Manchuria transport service. By July, 1918, he was overseas engaged in submarine patrol off the coast of England and France. After the war ended, he was promoted to lieutenant j.g., and from December, 1918, until October, 1919, he was engaged in an operation to clear the North Sea of mines. He returned to New York in November, 1919, having overseen twenty subchasers in his command. Of those twenty, one was lost at sea due to explosions and fire, one was damaged so severely that it was not safe to sail it back to the US, and one was damaged but did eventually return. No crew members were lost as a result of these damages, and his mission was completed successfully.

New Mexico Commission of Public Records, State Records Center and Archives; Santa Fe, New Mexico; Series Title: Service Reports; Series Number: 18.1.6; Box Number: 10899; Collection Name: New Mexico Adjutant General Records; Collection Number: 1973-019

For his service, Morton was awarded the Navy Cross for distinguished service. (“Servicemen Cheer Hero at Canteen,” San Francisco Chronicle, August 21, 1943, p. 18) His commendation read:

The President of the United States of America takes pleasure in presenting the Navy Cross to Lieutenant, Junior Grade Morton Tinslar Seligman (NSN: 0-34590), United States Navy, for exceptionally meritorious and distinguished service in the line of his profession as Commanding Officer of the U.S.S. C-272, engaged in the important and hazardous duty of sweeping for and removing the mines of the North Sea Barrage during World War I.

http://projects.militarytimes.com/citations-medals-awards/recipient.php?recipientid=10339

I am not sure where Morton was stationed once he returned to the US, but as of August 19, 1925, he was stationed in Honolulu as part of the aviation corps, according to a wedding announcement in the San Francisco Chronicle. On that date, Morton married Eleanor Reynolds, the daughter of Ziba Wells Reynolds, who had been a pay director in the Navy; her brother Lieutenant Stewart Reynolds was also serving in the Navy. The article, reprinted below with a photograph of the bride, reported that Morton was assigned to Honolulu for the next three years. (Another article stated that his Honolulu assignment was for two years, and that appears to have been more accurate. “Sail from San Pedro,” San Francisco Chronicle, September 2, 1925, p. 14)

Morton Seligman marriage article 8 19 25

San Francisco Chronicle, August 10, 1925, page 14

On August 29, 1925, Morton and Eleanor sailed out of Los Angeles to Hawaii on the SS Calawaii, arriving in Honolulu on September 5, 1925. (National Archives and Records Administration (NARA); Washington, D.C.; Passenger Lists of Vessels Arriving at Honolulu, Hawaii, compiled 02/13/1900 – 12/30/1953; National Archives Microfilm Publication: A3422; Roll: 083; Record Group Title: Records of the Immigration and Naturalization Service, 1787 – 2004; Record Group Number: RG 85)

Two years later they returned to California on the SS City of Honolulu, departing June 18, 1927, for Wilmington, California, where Morton was assigned to V.F. Squadron 6, a fighter squadron, part of the US Navy Battle Fleet. (Ancestry.com. U.S., Military Registers, 1862-1985[database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2013.)

Although he is listed as residing in San Diego in the 1929 San Diego city directory, he must have been reassigned during that year to Washington, DC, with the Bureau of Aeronautics. (“Mrs. Seligman Leaves for Washington, D.C.,” San Diego Union, September 23, 1929.)

It seems that the marriage did not survive long thereafter because by April 3, 1930, the date of the 1930 census, Morton was divorced, and he was living with a fellow Navy aviator in Washington, DC. He was still with the Bureau of Aeronautics in 1931, according to the Washington city directory of that year, although he was temporarily attached to the US Marine Corps as part of a special assignment to transport aircraft to Port au Prince, Haiti, in October, 1931. ( Ancestry.com. U.S. Marine Corps Muster Rolls, 1798-1958 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2007.) He returned from Haiti on November 2, 1931, giving the Wardman Park Hotel in Washington as his address. (Year: 1931; Arrival: New York, New York; Microfilm Serial: T715, 1897-1957; Microfilm Roll: Roll 5067; Line: 7; Page Number: 64.)

Lt. Morton Seligman c. 1932
Courtesy of Arthur Scott

By 1933, Morton was living in San Diego and was remarried to a woman named Adela. I cannot find a marriage record or any other document that reveals Adela’s birth name, but she is listed with him as his wife on the 1933 San Diego city directory. He was now a Lieutenant Commander with the VF-1-B squadron, according to the U.S. Military Register for the year. He and Adela were still living in San Diego as of 1939, according to that year’s directory, and Morton was still serving in the US Navy. According to the US Military Register for 1939, Morton was now a commander at the Naval Air Station in San Diego. The 1940 census also has Morton and Adela living in San Diego, Morton’s occupation still as a naval aviator. By this time, Morton was 44, Adela was 41. Morton had been serving in the Navy for over 20 years. (Ancestry.com. U.S. Marine Corps Muster Rolls, 1798-1958 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2007.)

In October, 1941, Morton risked his life in an unsuccessful attempt to rescue two naval aviators who died when their plane crashed into the bay off the coast of San Diego. According to the San Diego Union:

“Comdr. Morton T. Seligman, Naval Air station executive officer, made a dramatic attempt to rescue the fliers a few minutes after the crash. Speeding to the scene of the accident in a crash boat, Cmdr. Seligman discovered that no one aboard was a diver. Despite the fact that he had never donned a diving helmet in his entire navy career, the officer put on the helmet and diving suit, instructed the crew of the crash boat how to operate the air pumps and then dived overboard.

“In 25 feet of water, Cmdr. Seligman discovered the bodies of the airmen in the smashed plane. In trying to extricate them, Cmdr. Seligman suffered severe cuts on his left hand from jagged pieces of metal and wood.” (“Two Fliers Die As Navy Plane Falls Into Bay,” San Diego Union, October 5, 1941, p. 1)

Two months later, the US would enter World War II after the bombing of Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, a place where Morton had once served. Not long after, Morton was an officer on the USS Lexington, which was destroyed during the Battle of the Coral Sea, which took place from May 4 through May 8, 1942. The battle was described as follows on the official US Navy website Naval History and Heritage Command: http://www.history.navy.mil/photos/events/wwii-pac/coralsea/coralsea.htm



“The Battle of the Coral Sea, fought in the waters southwest of the Solomon Islands and eastward from New Guinea, was the first of the Pacific War's six fights between opposing aircraft carrier forces. Though the Japanese could rightly claim a tactical victory on "points", it was an operational and strategic defeat for them, the first major check on the great offensive they had begun five months earlier at Pearl Harbor. The diversion of Japanese resources represented by the Coral Sea battle would also have immense consequences a month later, at the Battle of Midway.  …..

“Preliminary operations on 3-6 May and two days of active carrier combat on 7-8 May cost the United States one aircraft carrier, a destroyer and one of its very valuable fleet oilers, plus damage to the second carrier. However, the Japanese were forced to cancel their Port Moresby seaborne invasion. In the fighting, they lost a light carrier, a destroyer and some smaller ships. Shokaku received serious bomb damage and Zuikaku’s air group was badly depleted. Most importantly, those two carriers were eliminated from the upcoming Midway operation, contributing by their absence to that terrible Japanese defeat.”

English: Battle of the Coral Sea (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The website also notes that “The U.S. Navy [was] tipped off to the enemy plans by superior communications intelligence” that helped them in their fight against the Japanese in this battle.

As for Morton’s role, a US Navy Cruise Book described the battle and the USS Lexington’s role in that battle in great detail. According to this source, on the morning of May 7, 1942, the aircraft carrier was hit by five torpedoes and numerous bombs. Although seriously damaged, the ship did not sink, and by 1 pm it was on even keel and only had one fire burning. Then another major explosion occurred, caused by gasoline vapors igniting below the deck. Several fires started, and by 5 pm the commanding office of the ship, Admiral Fitch, ordered the crew to abandon ship. After the admiral and the crew had left, “Captain Sherman and his Executive Office, Commander Morton T. Seligman made a final inspection of their vessel amid flying debris, smoke and flames. They then slid down a line, with the commanding officer being the last to leave—just as the torpedo head locker exploded, shaking both from the line and into the sea. All but 26 officers and 190 men were rescued (including seven brothers aboard named Patten), and it is thought that none of these casualties occurred by drowning after abandoning ship.”

(Ancestry.com. U.S. Navy Cruise Books, 1918-2009 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc, 2011. Original data: United States Navy. Various U.S. Navy Cruise Books. Navy Department Library, Washington, D.C.)

English: USS Lexington (CV-2), burning and sinking after her crew abandoned ship during the Battle of Coral Sea, 8 May 1942. Note planes parked aft, where fires have not yet reached. Removed caption read: Photo # NH 51382 USS Lexington burning during the Battle of Coral Sea, May 1942 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

For his service and heroism aboard the Lexington, Seligman was awarded a Gold Star in lieu of a second Navy Cross. His citation read:

The President of the United States of America takes pleasure in presenting a Gold Star in lieu of a Second Award of the Navy Cross to Commander Morton Tinslar Seligman (NSN: 0-34590), United States Navy, for extraordinary heroism and distinguished service in the line of this profession as Executive Officer of the Aircraft Carrier U.S.S. LEXINGTON (CV-2), in action on 7 and 8 May 1942, during the Battle of the Coral Sea. During and after that battle Commander Morton directed the damage control and fire fighting parties, inspecting and visiting all critical parts of the ship. He personally assisted in removing all the wounded in many places. His distinguished leadership and timely decisions contributed greatly to the success of our forces and was largely responsible for the small loss of life that occurred when the ship was abandoned. Commander Seligman’s conduct throughout was in keeping with the highest traditions of the Navy of the United States.

http://projects.militarytimes.com/citations-medals-awards/recipient.php?recipientid=10339

Navy Cross

A month later, Morton Seligman would be caught up in a controversy involving another major Pacific battle, the Battle of Midway. More on that in Part II.

My Great-grandmother’s Brother James Leon Seligman: Philadelphia to Santa Fe to Salt Lake to Santa Fe

Posted on October 20, 2014 by Amy

My great-great-grandparents Frances Nusbaum and Bernard Seligman had three children who survived to adulthood: my great-grandmother Eva, whose adult life I’ve written about here, and her two younger brothers, James and Arthur, my great-great-uncles. First, I will write about James and his family.

As I’ve already written, James was born on August 11, 1868, in Philadelphia, attended Swarthmore, and lived in Salt Lake City for a number of years between 1888 and 1900. He married Ruth V.B. Stevenson in 1893, and they had two children: Morton Tinslar, born in 1895, and Beatrice Grace, born in 1898.

The east side of Main Street (also known as East Temple Street) in Salt Lake City, Utah. The photo was taken in the 1890s by photographer Charles Roscoe Savage.. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

By 1900 James had brought his family to live in Santa Fe. According to the 1900 census, James and Ruth and their two young children were living with James’ parents Bernard and Frances, and James was working as a clerk in a dry goods store—obviously, Seligman Brothers. James also became involved in Santa Fe politics and was elected in October, 1900, to serve on the executive committee of the Santa Fe County Democratic Central Committee. (“Democratic Central Committee,” Santa Fe New Mexican, October 24, 1900, p. 4)

It must have been not long afterwards that Bernard and Frances left Santa Fe and moved to Philadelphia, where Bernard spent the last few years of his life before dying in 1903. In 1903 James became president and general manager of Seligman Brothers when the business incorporated and his uncle Adolph left the company. In a very short amount of time, James had become a leader in the Santa Fe political and business community.

In 1910, James listed his occupation on the census as a retail merchant of dry goods and as an employer (as did his brother Arthur). By 1917, however, he was serving as the postmaster for Santa Fe. (“Troops Are Disappointed,” Albuquerque Journal, March 31, 1917, p. 3, mentioning James L. Seligman as postmaster of Santa Fe.) I do not know whether this was a full time position or whether he also continued to work at the family business. His entry on the 1920 census only listed his position as postmaster as his occupation. (His brother Arthur was the mayor for some of these same years, making me wonder who was really in charge of the Seligman Brothers business at that time.)

James’ entry in the 1920 Swarthmore Register lists many of his activities and does not even mention Seligman Brothers::

James Seligman in Swarthmore Register 1920

Meanwhile, James and Ruth’s children were growing up. Morton, after starting college at the University of New Mexico, was notified in May, 1914, that he had been accepted into Annapolis, the US Naval Academy. He enrolled that June and graduated in June, 1918, in the top third of his class.[1] His long career with the Navy will be discussed in my next blog post.

Midshipmen walking to class at the US Naval Academy in Annapolis (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Morton’s younger sister Beatrice also went away to school, The Wolcott School for Girls in Denver. In May, 1917, she appeared in Shakespeare’s Comedy of Errors at the school, according to the May 13, 1917, Denver Post (p. 10). I thought it a little surprising that Beatrice was so far from home, but then found the following news article:

“Word was received here last night of the death of Miss Beatrice Seligman, daughter of Postmaster and Mrs. James Seligman. Miss Seligman has been ill for some time and was in Denver in the hopes of gaining better health through special treatment. Mrs. Seligman has been with her daughter and Mr. Seligman left this morning for Denver.” (“Miss Seligman, Santa Fe Girl, Dies in Denver,” Wednesday, July 28, 1920, Albuquerque Journal, p. 4)

Although I do not know what illness Beatrice was fighting, it must have been very hard for her parents to send her so far away in hopes of improving her health. No matter how many times I read about a parent losing a child, it never fails to upset me and make me wonder how those parents coped with the loss.

Beatrice Seligman headstone http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GSln=Seligman&GSiman=1&GScid=38062&GRid=114937292&

As I wrote in my prior post, the 1920s were not good years for the Seligman Brothers business. Although Seligman Brothers was still listed in the Santa Fe directory in 1928, the general manager was someone named Evelyn Conway, not anyone named Seligman. James and Ruth Seligman had started a new venture, Old Santa Fe Trading Post, filed with the State of New Mexico in March, 1929. http://www.bizapedia.com/nm/OLD-SANTA-FE-TRADING-POST-INC.html James described his occupation on the 1930 census as a merchant in the antiques business. The 1930 directory for Santa Fe listed James as the president and his wife Ruth as the secretary-treasurer of the Old Santa Fe Trading Post, as did the directories for 1932, 1934, 1936, and 1938. On the 1940 census, James again listed his occupation as an antiques dealer.

It would be interesting to know why James left Seligman Brothers and formed a different business. As we will see, Arthur also had moved on to different ventures by the 1920s. Did the business fail because the brothers lost interest, or did they move on because the business was failing? Somehow I think it is more likely the former as both James and Arthur seemed to have other interests, both having served in public office.

James Leon Seligman died on December 15, 1940. He was 72 years old. He was buried in Fairview Cemetery in Santa Fe. His wife Ruth lived another 28 years; she was 95 years old and died in Coronado, California, where her son Morton lived for many years. She was buried with her husband James back in Santa Fe at Fairview Cemetery.

UPDATE: My cousin Pete wrote about James Seligman, our mutual relative, on his website. You can see it here.

James L. Seligman headstone
http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GSln=Seligman&GSiman=1&GScid=38062&GRid=114937292&

Ruth V.B. Stevenson Seligman headstone
http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GSln=Seligman&GSiman=1&GScid=38062&GRid=114937258&

[1] “Morton Seligman Is Notified that He Has Passed Examination,” Albuquerque Journal, May 8, 1914, p.3; Annual Register of the United States Naval Academy 1918-1919 (US Government Printing Office), pp/172-173 at https://archive.org/details/annualregiste19181919unse

Seligman Brothers Company 1849-1928: The Rise and Fall of an American Business

Posted on October 17, 2014 by Amy

Although not a human member of my family tree, Seligman Brothers Company was a tremendous factor influencing the history of my Seligman family. Because this business was such a huge part of the family history, I decided to devote a separate post to the history and development of the business over time.

As described here, Sigmund Seligman had started the business in 1849 with Charles Clever. Then Clever had left to pursue a career in law, and Bernard had joined with his brother in the business. Later, their younger brother Adolph joined the business. Bernard withdrew, at least in name, for a while, and after Sigmund died in 1876, Adolph took over running the company. The business thrived, using the Santa Fe Trail to bring goods from the East to Santa Fe and the surrounding territory.

Sign for Santa Fe National Historic Trail. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The Santa Fe New Mexican ran an article on January 21, 1903, discussing the history of the business. The article described the way business had operated before the Santa Fe Railway system connected Santa Fe to other markets by train beginning in the 1880s:

“[A]ll goods brought into New Mexico were freighted by wagons drawn by oxen, mules and horses over the famous Santa Fe Trail from Kansas City. Santa Fe was then the business center of the territory. This was the distributing point for the entire region. Money was plentiful, there were no banks…. Gambling and speculation consequently ran riot. Goods were freighted in once a year and mails were received from the east once a month….” (“The Oldest Firm in the Southwest,” Santa Fe New Mexican, January 21, 1903, p. 1)

English: “Arrival of the caravan at Santa Fe” — Copy of original lithograph ca. 1844 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Marc Simmons, an expert on the history of the Santa Fe Trail, wrote, “Before the first bank was chartered in Santa Fe in 1870, Seligman Bros., in addition to its mercantile activities, engaged in private banking. … The firm also helped finance construction of the Denver and Rio Grande Railroad.” http://www.santafetrail.org/publications/wagon-tracks/pdf/V.%203%2088-89.pdf

Logo (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Another article written in the Santa Fe New Mexican in 1915 gave more detail about the early nature of the business:

“In the early years of its existence the old firm was engaged in a general merchandise business and bought and sold everything needed by the Indians and the Spanish and American settles of that period. There was much bartering with the Indians and early settlers, as there was comparatively little actual money in the country and goods of all kinds were traded for skins, blankets, goods of all kinds, whatever the people had to offer and which could be turned into money in the markets of the East by the venturesome traders.” (“New Store at the End of the Santa Fe Trail Recalls the Ancient and Honorable History of Seligman Bros. Institution,” Santa Fe New Mexican, March 29, 1915)

The store moved in 1856 and then returned to its original location in 1890. The 1903 article pointed out that although the store had originally carried a wide range of items including not just dry goods, but also groceries, hardware and crockery, after the move in 1890 it had limited its inventory to dry goods (clothing, hats, shoes, boots, carpets and “kindred lines”).

The 1915 article described the growth of Seligman Brothers wholesale business after the arrival of the railroad and the growth that followed:

“While Seligman Brothers carried on a retail business, the rapid development of the surrounding country and the establishment of stores in the new settlements formed in the outlying districts made it necessary that an immense stock be carried from which to supply the needs of the country merchants. This led to the building up of a wholesale business which in its day and generation was a marvel to the jobbers and manufacturers of the more populous trading centers of the East and North who could not understand how it was that a single concern in the sparsely populated country around Santa Fe could possibly need stocks of goods aggregating a quarter million of dollars in value, yet Seligman Brothers had, in fact, nearly always had, that much money invested in merchandise in order to be able to take of the country merchants who depended up them for supplies.” (“New Store at the End of the Santa Fe Trail Recalls the Ancient and Honorable History of Seligman Bros. Institution,” Santa Fe New Mexican, March 29, 1915)

English: Comparison map showing the Santa Fe Trail and the Atchison. Scanned from: Santa Fe Railroad (1922), By the Way – A condensed guide of points of interest along the Santa Fe lines to California, Rand McNally and Company, Chicago, Illinois. Category:Atchison Category:Historical maps of the United States Category:Railroad maps (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Thus, Seligman’s was successful on both a retail and a wholesale level. As I wrote in my last post, in 1903 Adolph Seligman withdrew from Seligman and Brothers, and the business was then incorporated as Seligman Brothers Company. Bernard’s older son James became a stockholder and the president and general manager of the business with Bernard’s younger son Arthur, also a stockholder, serving as the treasurer and secretary. The 1903 Santa Fe New Mexican article reported on the change in ownership and the withdrawal of Adolph from the business, observing that “the business of the corporation will be continued is all respects as heretofore” and that “The firm of Seligman Bros. is the oldest in the southwest. It is well and favorably known through the section and has a high reputation for fair dealing and honesty. The members are progressive and up-to-date, and there is no doubt that it will command a high percentage of the favor of the public and secure a large share of business. It has done so for fifty years and indications are that it will do so for many years to come.” (“The Oldest Firm in the Southwest,” Santa Fe New Mexican, January 21, 1903, p. 1)

The 1915 article reported on another relocation of the business and, like the article written twelve years earlier, predicted continuing growth and success for the business. (“New Store at the End of the Santa Fe Trail Recalls the Ancient and Honorable History of Seligman Bros. Institution,” Santa Fe New Mexican, March 29, 1915)

Despite that optimism, it appears that the 1920s were not very good for the business. A few ads indicate that things perhaps were not going as well as they once had.

1920 Seligman Bros. ad

Seligman Bros ad May 5, 1922 Santa Fe New Mexican

Although I do not have any source explaining specifically why or when the business closed, in 1928 it was still listed in the Santa Fe city directory, but with a woman named Evelyn Conway as its general manager. James and Arthur had moved on to different lines of business, as I will discuss. By 1930 Seligman Brothers Company was no longer listed in the directory and presumably was out of business. Perhaps competition from those other stores had had an impact on Seligman’s business. Whatever the cause, it is sad that after more than seventy-five years as one of the first and most important businesses in Santa Fe, the store disappeared forever.[1]

Thanks once again to my cousin Arthur “Pete” Scott, who provided me with most of the news clippings discussed in this post. For more on the history of the buildings where Seligman Brothers was located from 1849-1926, see his article here. There are also additional photographs located at that site. In addition, Pete wrote an article about the history of the company, located here.

[1] William Seligman,son of Adolph Seligman, did continue for at least some time the family tradition in the dry goods business in Santa Fe. He operated a store in Santa Fe under the name Seligman’s from at least 1948-1959. In 1960, the store was listed in the Santa Fe Directory as simply Willie’s Shop for Men. (“New Haberdashery to Open at La Fonda,” Santa Fe New Mexican, November 30, 1958.) I do not know how much longer the store stayed in business. There is no business called Seligman’s currently listed in the Santa Fe business directory.

Adolph Seligman: A Rift in the Family?

Posted on October 12, 2014 by Amy

Before I continue to write about the children of Bernard and Frances Seligman, I want to write about Bernard’s other siblings, most importantly Adolph Seligman, the third Seligman brother who settled in Santa Fe. I am aware of one other brother, James, who settled in England, but there may have been and probably were other siblings. Bernard’s obituary referred to siblings in Germany and in England who survived him, and the age gaps between Sigmund (1830), Bernard (1837), Adolph (1840 to 1845), and James (1853) suggest that there may have been other children born in the gaps between those years. I have found one other record for an August Seligman (1841), who may have been another sibling, but I have only two mentions in German indices for August to rely on.

For now, however, I will focus on the life of Adolph Seligman. Adolph was born between 1840 and 1845, according to various records, and he arrived in the US in 1863, as seen on the two ship manifests below. The first indicates that he was born in Gau-Algesheim, was a merchant, and was 20 years old. He sailed from Hamburg on the Germania on August 22, 1863, and arrived in New York on September 7, 1863.

Staatsarchiv Hamburg; Volume: 373-7 I, VIII A 1 Band 017; Seite: 545 Description Month : Direkt Band 017 (10 Jan 1863 – 26 Dez 1863) The Germania, Departure from Hamburg to New York on August 22, 1863

New York, Passenger Lists, 1820-1891,” index and images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.3.1/TH-1-16955-70464-13?cc=1849782 : accessed 09 Oct 2014), 233 – 3 Sep 1863-3 Oct 1863 > image 63 of 409; citing National Archives, Washington D.C. Arrival September 7, 1863

This was apparently the maiden voyage for this ship. To see a photo of the ship and more about it, click here.

Although Adolph landed in New York City, he was definitely in New Mexico by 1868 because he appears on the IRS tax assessment records there for that year, residing in Elizabethtown. On the 1870 census he appears as a dry goods merchant living in Colfax, New Mexico.

By 1873, he was residing in Santa Fe, and he is listed with his brother Sigmund and with Julius Nusbaum, Bernard’s brother-in-law, as one of the principals in Seligman Brothers and Company on the 1873 IRS tax assessment list. (As discussed here, Bernard withdrew from the business in 1873, and Adolph and Julius took his place as owners of the company.)

1873 IRS Tax Assessment for Adolph Seligman The National Archives and Records Administration; Washington, D.C.; Internal Revenue Assessment Lists for the Territory of New Mexico, 1862-1870, 1872-1874; Series: M782; Roll: 1; Description: Monthly and Special Lists; 1869-1874; Record Group: 58, Records of the Internal Revenue Service, 1791 – 2006.

On the 1880 US census, Adolph was living with Bernard and his family in Santa Fe; both Bernard and Adolph listed their occupation as general merchants. (In addition to Adolph, Bernard also was providing a home for his father-in-law John Nusbaum, my three-times great-grandfather, and Simon Nusbaum, his brother-in-law, that year.)

Seligman and Nusbaums on 1880 US census santa fe

1880 Census for Bernard Seligman and household Year: 1880; Census Place: Santa Fe, Santa Fe, New Mexico; Roll: 804; Family History Film: 1254804; Page: 27A; Enumeration District: 040; Image: 0056.

Adolph was still living with Bernard and his family (and Simon Nusbaum) in 1885. On April 6, 1886, Adolph was appointed postmaster for Santa Fe and continued in that position until at least July, 1889.

In 1890, Adolph was elected president and his nephew Arthur Seligman and two other men were elected officers of a corporation organized for a mining venture. According to an article dated April 26, 1890, in the Santa Fe Sun, the mine, called the Chester mine, was “a fine mine and its development will disclose ore of startling richness. The last fifty-six sacks of ore taken from this mine yielded the owners $1,700 per ton in Denver. The gentlemen engaged in this enterprise are all energetic men of business and well deserve the success that is sure to follow their work.”

Santa Fe Sun, April 26, 1890

It seems that Adolph must have struggled with some health issues during the late 1890s as I found two news articles, one dated 1900 after a trip to Europe and one dated 1898 after a trip to Santa Rosalia Hot Springs, Chihuahua, both mentioning how his health was improved after these vacations.

Date: Saturday, November 10, 1900 Paper: New Mexican (Santa Fe, NM) Volume: 37 Issue: 226 Page: 4

(The 1900 trip may explain why I cannot find Adolph on the 1900 US census.)

Adolph then went through some transitions at the Seligman’s family business. The Santa Fe New Mexican of January 21, 1903, announced that Adolph had withdrawn from the business as of December 31, 1902, and that a new corporation had been formed under the name Seligman Brothers Company with Frances, James, and Arthur Seligman as stockholders. James was to be the president and general manager and Arthur the secretary and treasurer of the newly formed corporation. Bernard was described as the senior member of the company, representing its business as a buyer in the east (as by that time Bernard and Frances were living in Philadelphia, as discussed here).

So what happened to Adolph? Had he been pushed out, or he had retired for health reasons? Was there a rift in the family or just an independent decision to leave? I don’t know. In the 1903 New Mexico city directory, Adolph is listed as a saloon owner in Santa Fe. An ad in the May 2, 1904 Santa Fe New Mexican reveals that at that time, Adolph was back in the dry goods business, selling men’s, women’s, and children’s shoes.

May 2, 1904 Santa Fe New Mexican

In fact, during the next decade or more, Adolph appears to have been in competition with his brother’s company, as seen in this ad from the Santa Fe New Mexican in 1911. Notice that the clipping has an ad for Seligman Brothers on the left side and one for Adolph Seligman Dry Goods on the right side.

October 2, 1911 Santa Fe New Mexican

Meanwhile, Adolph’s personal life had also changed around the same time as these changes in his work life. Adolph was single until 1902, and then when he was about sixty years old, he married Lucille Gorman, who was only nineteen years old at the time. Did this change in his personal life have anything to do with his withdrawal from Seligman Brothers? I do not know.

Adolph and Lucille had a daughter Minnie in 1903, the year after they married, and then had five more children: Jacob and Adolph, Jr. (1909),[1] William (1911), Gladys (1915), and Mildred (1919).

On the 1920 census when he was reported to be 76 years old, Adolph reported no occupation; Lucille was working as a seamstress.

Adolph Seligman and family 1920 US census Year: 1920; Census Place: Santa Fe, Santa Fe, New Mexico; Roll: T625_1080; Page: 11B; Enumeration District: 129; Image: 123

Adolph died soon after this census was taken. He died on February 12, 1920, from locomotor ataxia. He was about 76 years old, although his death certificate reported his birth date to be September 29, 1840, and his age to be 79.

New Mexico, Deaths, 1889-1945,” index, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/FLTH-K9Y : accessed 06 Sep 2014), Adolf Seligman, 12 Feb 1920; citing Santa Fe, Santa Fe, New Mexico, reference Item 3, Bureau of Vital Records and Health Statistic

I am not sure whether this birthdate is accurate, given the ages on all the other records, and also given that the death certificate said his birthplace was Cologne, Germany, which is inconsistent with earlier records placing his birth in the Hesse-Darmstadt region just like his brothers Sigmund and Bernard. The ship manifest for his trip from Hamburg in 1863 also said that he was from Gau-Algesheim.

Lucille was left with six children ranging in ages from a year old to seventeen years old, and she herself was only 37 when Adolph died. In 1930 she was listed as a widow on the census with no occupation, but her three oldest children were employed, Minnie as a salesperson, Adolph, Jr., as a tailor, and Jake as an electrician. All six children were still living with her, now ages eleven to 27 (although Minnie’s age was listed as 23 on the census). Sometime after the census was taken but during 1930, Lucille remarried. She is listed as Lucille, wife of Frank C. Daniels, in the 1930 Santa Fe city directory.

Adolph, Jr., died the following year on June 13, 1931; he was only 22 years old. I was not able to access a death certificate to determine his cause of death. Lucille died a year after her son on November 10, 1932, under the name Lucille S. Daniels. She was 40 years old. I don’t know her cause of death either.

Her widower Frank Daniels, who had married Lucille just two years earlier, took on the responsibility for her three daughters and her son William, all of whom were still living with him as late as 1940, some using the surname Daniels. Frank was working as a carpenter for a building supply company. Minnie was now 37 (35 on the census) and working as bookkeeper for a building supply company; William, 28, was also working as a bookkeeper for a building supply company. (I assume that Frank, Minnie, and William were all working for the same company.) Gladys was 24 and working as a cashier for the power company. Mildred was 21 and had no occupation listed.

Jake, who had been living with his siblings and stepfather Frank in 1932 according to the Santa Fe city directory of that year, married Adela Roybal sometime soon thereafter. He continued to work as an electrician. He and Adela had one child. Two of Adolph’s children never married or had children, Minnie and Gladys. William married Mae Leeper, and they had four children. William served as a city councilman in Santa Fe. Mildred married David Roberson and had one child. Many of Adolph and Lucille’s descendants continue to live in Santa Fe.

There are many unanswered questions about Adolph and his life after 1902. Like his brothers Sigmund and Bernard, he was a risk-taker and a pioneer, both following in his older brothers’ footsteps and also finding his own path.

——————–

[1] Although several records indicate that both Jacob and Adolph, Jr., were born in 1909, neither appears on the 1910 census, and on the 1920 census, Adolph was reported to be eleven whereas Jake was said to be only ten. The 1930 census has Adolph as 21 (meaning a birth year of 1909), but has Jacob’s age as 18, meaning a birth year of 1912. Adolph’s headstone has a birth year of 1909. Jacob’s obituary states that he was born on September 9, 1909, as does his entry in the SSDI. I will have to request a search from the New Mexico Bureau of Vital Records to determine the exact birth dates, which will take as much as 12 weeks to process.

Gau-Algesheim and the Seligmans: My Great-great-grandfather’s Birthplace and What I Learned

My Seligman Great-Great-Grandparents: Two Pioneers Who Made A Difference with Integrity and Kindness

Posted on October 9, 2014 by Amy

Bernard Seligman http://swja.arizona.edu/content/bernard-seligman-family

By the 1890s, my great-great-grandparents were “empty nesters.” Their daughter Eva, my great-grandmother, was married to Emanuel Cohen and raising her family in Philadelphia. (I’ve written about my Cohen great-grandparents here.) Their son James was working as a draftsman for the Department of Interior in Salt Lake City, Utah; he would marry Ruth V.B. Stevenson in 1893 in Salt Lake City, and have two children, Morton Tinslar Seligman, born July 1, 1895, in Salt Lake City, and Beatrice Grace Seligman, born December 4, 1898, also in Salt Lake City. By 1900, however, James, Ruth and the children had moved to Santa Fe, where they were living next door to Bernard and Frances. James was working as a clerk in a dry goods store, presumably the Seligman store.

Bernard Seligman and James Seligman and families 1900 US census Year: 1900; Census Place: Santa Fe Ward 4, Santa Fe, New Mexico; Roll: 1002; Enumeration District: 0126; FHL microfilm: 1241002

Arthur, the youngest child of Bernard and Frances, had returned to Santa Fe after college in Philadelphia, and in 1896, he married a widow named Frankie E. Harris in Cleveland, Ohio.

Marriage certificate of Arthur Seligman and Frankie E. Harris Cuyahoga County Archive; Cleveland, Ohio; Cuyahoga County, Ohio, Marriage Records, 1810-1973; Volume: Vol 42-43; Page: 489; Year Range: 1892 Sep – 1896 Jul

Frankie had an eight year old daughter Richie from her first marriage who became a part of the Seligman family. In fact for her ninth birthday on August 3, 1897, Bernard and Frances hosted a birthday party for Richie and 42 of her friends in their Santa Fe home.

City News Items Date: Tuesday, August 3, 1897 Paper: New Mexican (Santa Fe, NM) Volume: 34 Issue: 138 Page: 4

(This same “gossip column” also reported that Arthur and James Seligman and some friends were going on a two week fishing trip soon after this birthday party.)

Arthur and Frankie had a son together just a year later; Otis Perry Seligman was born on February 14, 1898, in Santa Fe. Thus, by 1900, Bernard and Frances had four grandchildren living in Santa Fe plus three more grandsons living in Philadelphia, including my grandfather John Nusbaum Cohen.

On the professional side, I could not find any specific references to Bernard’s political activities or his business activities during the 1890s although the 1900 census listed his occupation as a dry goods merchant. In 1894 he seems to have taken an extended trip to Europe, including to Germany and to Italy.

Saturday Small Talk Date: Saturday, October 27, 1894 Paper: New Mexican (Santa Fe, NM) Volume: 31 Issue: 214 Page: 4

From this clipping it is hard to know whether or not he was traveling with Frances. I also wonder who the relatives were in Italy and who he was visiting on the Rhine. Was this purely for pleasure or was it a business trip? I don’t know.

At some point after this trip, however, Bernard and Frances moved back to Philadelphia. Bernard was living in Philadelphia when he died on February 3, 1903, at age 65 from myocarditis. He was residing at 1606 Diamond Street at the time.

When I looked back to see where my great-grandmother Eva was living at that time, I was hardly surprised to see that she, her husband Emanuel Cohen, and their three sons were also living at 1606 Diamond Street as of the 1900 census. In fact, in 1900, Emanuel’s brother Isaac and nephew were also living at 1606 Diamond Street after the death of Isaac’s wife. Thus, Eva and Emanuel Cohen, my great-grandparents, were housing not only their three children, but also at least four other family members, Eva’s parents and Emanuel’s brother and nephew.

According to his obituary, Bernard (and presumably Frances) had moved back to Philadelphia three years before his death, to “recuperate from over-work.” The obituary goes on to say that Bernard had been doing well until sometime in the prior year when he had a “severe stroke of paralysis which weakened him considerably.” The paper noted, however, that he had been improving and that no one thought that he was near death. The obituary described his death as “shocking” and reported that the day before his death he had appeared fine and had even sent a dispatch relating to business matters to his son Arthur.

“A Good and True Man Called Hence,” Santa Fe New Mexican, February 3, 1903, p. 1

The obituary recounts all of Bernard’s many accomplishments, both political and business, and describes him as follows:

“Mr. Seligman was a pioneer in New Mexico, and during his residence of over forty years in this city and territory, was one of the most progressive, shrewdest and brightest businessmen and citizens of the commonwealth. He was a man of the strongest integrity and keen perception and high courage, public spirited and thoroughly posted on public affairs, indeed a valuable and good citizen in every sense of the word, a loving husband and a kind and indulgent, yet at the same time, a firm and sensible father. He was a prominent and important factor in the building up of the commercial, educational, civic, moral, and material interests in this city and county and of the entire territory. A good and true man has gone to the great beyond.”

What can I possibly add to that? Only that I wish that I had known him. I stand a bit taller knowing that I am descended from Bernard Seligman.

Just two years later, my great-great-grandmother Frances Nusbaum Seligman also died. She died in Philadelphia on July 27, 1905, at age 59.

She had been living at 1431 Diamond Street at the time of her death. Again, I checked to see where my great-grandparents Eva and Emanuel Cohen were living, and 1905 Philadelphia directory, their address was, not surprisingly, 1431 Diamond Street, and they still had their three sons and Isaac living with them in 1910 as well.

Frances was described in her obituary in very loving terms:

“She was a beautiful and accomplished woman, as good as she was beautiful and as beautiful as she was good, and of a most lovable and gentle disposition. She was an exemplary wife, a fond and good mother, and a dutiful and loving daughter. Indeed she was all that is implied in the phrase ‘a thoroughly good and moral woman.’ … She will be especially remembered by the poor people of [Santa Fe], to whom she was particularly kind. Many and many truly charitable deeds have been put to her credit.”

The obituary further commented:

“From the moment of her arrival to within a few years ago, when she commenced to spend most of her time in Philadelphia, she was a social leader, admired, respected and popular. She was a woman without guile and always ready to lend a helping hand in social as well as in charitable work.”

(“Gentle, Good Woman Gone,” Santa Fe New Mexican, July 27, 1905, p. 1)

While I was impressed and proud when I read my great-great-grandfather’s obituary, I was very moved and emotional in reading about my great-great-grandmother Frances. The words “good,” “gentle,” and “kind” are the same words that I have heard my father and my cousin Marjorie use to describe their grandmother, Eva Seligman Cohen, the daughter of Frances Nusbaum and Bernard Seligman. She seems to have inherited or learned those very traits from her parents, two people who left the city of Santa Fe a better place by the time and the effort that they spent in caring for their community while they lived there. As I will describe, their surviving children also left their mark, my great-grandmother Eva by her kindness and caring for others, and her two brothers James and especially Arthur by their service to Santa Fe and New Mexico.

Bernard Seligman

Frances Nusbaum Seligman

These two photos were given to me by my cousin Arthur Scott. They were taken from a video made by his sister of family photos in their home. The one of my great-great-grandmother Frances is so far the only photograph I have of her.

Bernard Seligman: His Political Career and His Family 1870-1890

Posted on October 7, 2014 by Amy

I want to thank my cousin Arthur “Pete” Scott for all his help with finding newspaper clippings (including some of the ones appearing in this post) and other information to try and fill in the timeline for Bernard and the other Seligmans. He has also contributed a great deal of information about our family at the Voces de Santa Fe website. Like my father, Pete is a great-grandson of Bernard Seligman and thus my second cousin once removed.

I have been having a hard time tracking the whereabouts of my great-great-grandfather Bernard in the 1870s. Although I know that Bernard and his family had moved back to Santa Fe sometime before their youngest child Arthur was born in June, 1871, it seems that Bernard was in and out of town during the 1870s. In 1873, he withdrew from the Seligman Brothers partnership:

Date: Thursday, January 2, 1873 Paper: Santa Fe Daily New Mexican (Santa Fe, NM) Page: 1

The firm of S. Seligman and Brother was dissolved, and a new firm owned by Sigmund and Adolph Seligman and Julius Nusbaum was created named Seligman Bros. and Company. Who was Julius Nusbaum? He was Bernard’s brother-in-law, the brother of Frances Nusbaum, Bernard’s wife.

Daily New Mexican, January 13, 1873

I cannot find an explanation for Bernard’s withdrawal, and he certainly was involved in the business again in later years. He had applied for a passport on April 3, 1873, and he served as a representative to the Vienna Exposition of 1873, so maybe that prompted his withdrawal.

Bernard Seligman passport application 1873

Maybe it’s my modern skepticism that is coloring my perception, but it also seems possible that Bernard withdrew only in name, placing his wife’s brother in the firm in his stead. Was this done for political purposes to avoid at least the appearance of any conflicts of interest?

Henry Tobias, author of The History of the Jews of New Mexico (University of New Mexico Press, 1990), writing about New Mexico in the 1880s and 1890s, described Bernard Seligman as “probably the most political of all the Santa Fe Jews” during that era (Tobias, p. 117). Ralph Emerson Twitchell, author of Old Santa Fe: The Story of New Mexico’s Ancient Capital (Rio Grande Press, 1925), wrote, “A public speaker of great force and convincing power, [Bernard Seligman] found time to engage in the public affairs of the country of his adoption and was elected and appointed to many positions of profit and trust.” (Twitchell, p. 477) Twitchell also pointed out that Bernard “was a linguist of rare ability; speaking with fluency the English, German, French, Spanish, Italian, and Hebrew idioms.” (Ibid.) Bernard must have been well suited for a career in politics and government in bilingual New Mexico.

Tobias wrote that Bernard became a member of the territorial legislature in 1880. (Tobias, p. 117) Both Bernard’s obituary (“A Good and True Man called Home,” Santa Fe New Mexican, February 3, 1903, p. 1) and Twitchell (p. 477 ) also state that Bernard served several terms in the Legislative Assembly for New Mexico. Another source reported that Bernard was instrumental in the passage of the mechanic’s lien law while he served in the territorial government, a law considered to be very important at that time. (George B. Anderson, History of New Mexico: Its Resources and Its People, Vol. 2 (Pacific States Pub. Co. 1907)).

One newspaper clipping shows that Bernard was the Democratic Party’s nominee for Santa Fe County Commissioner in 1884.(Las Vegas Daily Gazette., October 22, 1884, Image 2, at http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn90051703/1884-10-22/ed-1/seq-2/#date1=1873&index=5&rows=20&words=Bernard+Seligman&searchType=basic&sequence=0&state=New+Mexico&date2=1903&proxtext=bernard+seligman&y=4&x=6&dateFilterType=yearRange&page=1 ). Twitchell wrote that Bernard was chairman of the board of the Santa Fe County Commission for three terms, presumably in the mid-1880s. (Twitchell, p. 477)

Bernard and the Santa Fe County Commission ran into some legal trouble when a local resident and attorney, Thomas Catron, sued the Commission, alleging fraud. Catron claimed that in 1886 the Commission had issued warrants to raise money for a new courthouse that would increase the county debt beyond the limits set by a new federal statute; he alleged that to avoid that new limitation, the Commission had falsely stated the issuance date of the warrants so that they predated the effective date of that new law. Bernard Seligman is named in the case as the chair of the Commission at the time of this alleged fraud. The Supreme Court of the Territory of New Mexico found that Catron had stated sufficient facts, if proven, to support a claim against the Commission and remanded the case for trial. Unfortunately, I cannot find any report on the final outcome of the case on the merits.[1] Given Bernard’s future political success, perhaps Catron lost the case.

Bernard also encountered some controversy when the Governor of the New Mexico Territory, Edmund Ross, named him as his choice to be the treasurer of the territory. Thomas Catron was again involved in the fight against Bernard. Catron was himself a political leader in New Mexico, having served as Attorney General and US Attorney for the territory and later serving as one of its first US Senators when New Mexico became a state.

English: Thomas Benton Catron, Senator of the United States from New Mexico (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

In July, 1886, the Santa Fe New Mexican reported that Governor Ross might appoint Bernard as treasurer:

Bernard Seligman medicine man to be treasurer

Date: Friday, July 16, 1886 Paper: New Mexican (Santa Fe, NM) Page: 2

I am curious about the reference to Bernard as a “medicine man;” I have no idea what it means in this context.

Governor Ross did in fact appoint Bernard Seligman to be territorial treasurer, but that appointment was then resisted by a man who claimed to be the sitting treasurer, Antonio Ortiz y Salazar, who refused to turn over his office to Seligman. Ortiz, represented by the same Thomas Catron who was suing Bernard for fraud in his role as County Commissioner, argued that the governor had not had authority to appoint Seligman because there was no vacancy to fill as Ortiz still held the seat and had not resigned or died.

Seligman brought a mandamus action against Ortiz, seeking to have him hand over the incidents of the treasurer’s office. Seligman claimed that the oath taken by Ortiz when sworn in for a second term in 1884 was void because of some irregularities. Ortiz responded that he had been properly sworn into office in 1882 for his first term, and thus he still had a valid claim to the treasurer’s office despite the governor’s appointment of Seligman. The trial court judge disagreed and ruled that Seligman’s appointment was valid and that Ortiz had to give up his seat. Ortiz requested a rehearing, and on review, a different judge reversed the first court’s decision and ruled in favor of Ortiz, concluding that the appointment of Seligman as treasurer was not valid because Ortiz still properly held the seat.

Date: Thursday, August 19, 1886 Paper: Santa Fe Weekly New Mexican and Livestock Journal (Santa Fe, NM) Page: 4

Henry Tobias saw this incident as an example of the resentment some New Mexico residents felt about the success of the Jewish merchants in New Mexico. In response to his appointment of Seligman, Ross was advised by one prominent resident that there were already too many Jews in Santa Fe politics and government. (Tobias, pp. 119-120.)

Edmund G. Ross. Library of Congress description: “Hon. E. G. Ross of Kansas” (Photo credit: Wikipedia) Governor of New Mexico Territory 1885-1889

In December 1886, Governor Ross made a statement explaining his choice of my great-great-grandfather that upset some residents of the territory because of the insulting and discriminatory assumptions underlying that statement:

governor ross appoints bernard seligman-page-001

Date: Wednesday, December 29, 1886 Paper: Santa Fe Daily New Mexican (Santa Fe, NM) Page: 2

Perhaps there was prejudice on both sides: anti-Mexican prejudice by Ross and anti-Semitic prejudice on the part of those opposing the appointment of my great-great-grandfather.

Several sources, however, state that Bernard Seligman did serve as territorial treasurer: his obituary, Twitchell, and Tobias all refer to the fact that he served as treasurer. The Legislative Blue Book of the Territory of New Mexico (1911) lists Bernard Seligman as territorial treasurer from 1886 through 1891. None of these sources explain, however, what happened that allowed Seligman to continue in office after the court decision in favor of Ortiz in 1889.

Thus, for much of the 1880s Bernard was pursuing his political career. However, he also must have been somewhat involved in the Seligman Brothers business. This news clipping dated April 8, 1889, certainly suggests that Bernard was active in the business:

New Mexican (Santa Fe, NM), Monday, April 8, 1889 , Volume: 26, Issue: 41,Page: 4

Meanwhile, at home his children were growing up. In 1881, my great-grandmother Eva, then fifteen years old, left Santa Fe for Philadelphia where she went to Swarthmore[2] and later married my great-grandfather Emanuel Cohen in 1886. Her younger brother James also went to Swarthmore, where he was a member of the class of 1888 and a member of the literary society.

Bernard and Frances’ next child, Minnie, also followed in her siblings’ footsteps and enrolled at Swarthmore as did her younger Arthur. Although Arthur was two years younger than Minnie, they both enrolled at Swarthmore the same year—1885-1886. In that year James, Minnie and Arthur were all students at Swarthmore, James a sophomore in the college and Arthur and Minnie as juniors in the preparatory school. I am not sure where Eva was living that year as she appears to have finished her studies at Swarthmore in 1884 and did not marry Emanuel until 1886.

With at least three of their children living in Philadelphia and Bernard busy with politics, I wonder whether Frances had also returned to Philadelphia to be closer both to her Nusbaum family and her children and whether Eva was also living with her mother there. Although Eva and Frances are listed on the 1885 New Mexico Territorial Census, so are the other three children, despite the fact that those three were enrolled at school in Philadelphia that same year. The news clipping above reported that Frances had stayed behind in Philadelphia “with friends” in 1889 when Bernard had returned to Santa Fe.

The family suffered a tragic loss on January 14, 1887, when Minnie, only seventeen years old, died from meningitis while in Philadelphia. The address on the death certificate was 829 North 5^th Street, Philadelphia. Although I cannot find where the other Nusbaums were living in 1887, earlier Philadelphia directories list several members of the extended Nusbaum family living at residences nearby on North 6^th Street and North Marshall Street.

Minnie Seligman death certificate 1887

This note in a Quaker publication says that Minnie died at the home of a relative:

Friends’ Intelligencer United with the Friends’ Journal, Volume 44 (Google eBook), p. 59

Minnie was buried in Philadelphia at Mt Sinai cemetery, the same cemetery where her infant sister Florence had been buried in 1867 and where her uncle Sigmund Seligman had been buried in 1876 and where her parents and her sister Eva would later be buried. Although the family may have left Philadelphia for Santa Fe almost twenty years before, it is pretty clear to me that the ties back to Philadelphia remained very strong for the family of Bernard Seligman.

[1] Catron v. Board of Commissioners, 21 P. 60 (N.M. 1889)

[2] Swarthmore had a preparatory school as well as a college in those days, and my great-grandmother and her siblings all attended the preparatory school and then most attended the college for at least some time as well.

Sigmund Seligman: “A Beloved Friend to Humanity and an Uncompromising Lover of His Country”

Posted on October 5, 2014 by Amy

“La Ciudad de Santa Fe.” Engraving from “Report of Lt. J. W. Abert of his Examination of New Mexico in the Years 1846-1847.” (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

My great-great-uncle Sigmund Seligman must have been an impressive human being. Born in 1830, he came by himself to the US from a small town in Germany before he was even twenty years old. Although I have no records of his arrival or where he might have settled first (although other facts suggest he first settled in Philadelphia), historical sources report that by 1849 he had settled in Santa Fe, first working as a photographer there and then joining up with Charles Clever to start the trading business that became Seligman and Clever and eventually Seligman Brothers, a business that flourished and eventually supported not only Sigmund, but also his two brothers, Bernard and Adolph, and their families.

By 1857, he had applied for US citizenship in Philadelphia, and by 1860 he reported on the US census that he had $20,000 worth of personal property and the same in 1870. According to two different websites I found for converting 1860 dollars to today’s money, that amount would be the equivalent of over $400,000 today. Not too bad for a thirty year old entrepreneur.

I found a number of interesting news articles about Sigmund, including one dated June 6, 1871, that announced Sigmund’s return to Santa Fe after being away for a year “in the states and Germany.” I would love to know what took Sigmund back to Germany in 1870-1871. There must have still been family members there, but I have no idea who he might have been visiting. Maybe he was looking for a wife—as Parish had said, many men traveled back east or to Germany to find a Jewish woman to marry. If that was the purpose of Sigmund’s travels, he seems not to have been successful as he never married.

Santa Fe Daily New Mexican June 6, 1871, p.1

I assume that his travels in the states included Philadelphia, where his brother Bernard and his family were living during at least some part of that time. Perhaps Bernard was traveling back and forth, as I suggested in an earlier post, to keep an eye on the business while Sigmund was away. Sigmund had applied for a US passport on April 26, 1870, in Philadelphia, presumably for this trip. Written across the letter are the words “Nat Dis Court Santa Fe, New Mexico, December 15, 1856. Paid.” I don’t know what the December 15, 1856 date refers to, but I assume that Sigmund applied for this passport in order to take his trip back to Germany. He also had become a US citizen on April 26, 1870, also in Philadelphia, signed by the same notary who wrote in support of his passport application.

Sigmund Seligman passport application 1870 National Archives and Records Administration (NARA); Washington D.C.; Passport Applications, 1795-1905; Collection Number: ARC Identifier 566612 / MLR Number A1 508; NARA Series: M1372; Roll #: 165.

Sigismund Seligman naturalization affidavit

National Archives and Records Administration (NARA); Washington D.C.; Passport Applications, 1795-1905; Collection Number: ARC Identifier 566612 / MLR Number A1 508; NARA Series: M1372; Roll #: 165.

A year is a long time to leave a thriving business, and Sigmund reportedly received a “hearty welcome from his numerous friends” when he returned. (Santa Fe Daily New Mexican (Santa Fe, NM), June 6, 1871, p. 1) Sigmund was apparently quite well liked. In an editorial dated May 21, 1875, the Santa Fe New Mexican singled out Sigmund for his generosity and civic-mindedness based on his support of a project to provide sprinklers for the streets of Santa Fe to control the dust that tended to develop there on what I assume were dirt roads.

(Santa Fe New Mexican, May 21, 1875, p. 1)

Unfortunately, Sigmund’s life was cut short when he was only 46 years old on October 4, 1876. He died at Fort Craig, New Mexico, a site that is 181 miles from Santa Fe, so quite a distance; it was a US Army fort, the largest in the Southwest. As his obituary described it, he was in a “far off portion of the Territory.”

English: Former officers’ quarters, Fort Craig, New Mexico, USA (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

He died of apoplexy, according to one death record, and his obituary indicated that he died “from a sudden and resistless stroke of disease.” According to MedlinePlus, “When the word apoplexy (with no organ specified) is used alone, it often refers to stroke symptoms that occur suddenly. Such symptoms can be caused by bleeding into the brain or by a blood clot in a brain blood vessel. Conditions such as subarachnoid hemorrhage or stroke are sometimes called apoplexy.” http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/000328.htm

The public reaction to his death was described in expressive terms in Sigmund’s obituary in the Santa Fe New Mexican dated October 10, 1876. The paper reported, “At no time in the history of our citizens has there been a more spontaneous outpouring of the people to show a becoming respect to the memory of a departed fellow-citizen and friend.” A Jewish “burial service” was read by Lehman Spiegelberg, another Santa Fe merchant, and Sigmund was buried at Odd Fellows cemetery in Santa Fe on October 9, 1876. A eulogy was given by Edmund F. Dunne, “portraying in most affecting, generous and glowing terms the many virtues and excellent qualities of the deceased as a brother, friend, citizen and correct man of business.” The paper described him as “a beloved friend to humanity and an uncompromising lover of his country, her institutions and laws.”

Obituary of Sigmund Seligman 1876 Daily New Mexican page one Personal collection of Arthur Scott http://www.vocesdesantafe.org/index.php/explore-our-history/historical-documents2/item/301-the-daily-new-mexican-ocotober-10-1876

There was only one thing that puzzled me about this obituary. It does not mention Bernard or his family at all. In fact, the paper describes Adolph as “the surviving brother” as if there was no other. Since Arthur Seligman, Bernard’s son was born in Santa Fe in 1871 and since Bernard appears as living there on both the 1870 and 1880 US census reports as well as serving on the Board of Trustees of the Santa Fe Academy in 1878, I would have assumed that Bernard would have been in Santa Fe in 1876.

Although Sigmund was initially buried in Santa Fe, his body was moved to Philadelphia in April, 1877, six months after his death, where he was buried at Mt Sinai cemetery, the same cemetery where his brother Bernard would later be buried as well as other members of Bernard’s family. Putting this information together with Bernard’s absence from Sigmund’s funeral makes me wonder whether Bernard had in fact moved back to Philadelphia between 1876 and 1877 and decided to have his brother buried in a proper Jewish cemetery rather than in Santa Fe’s Odd Fellows cemetery.

Sigmund Seligman death record, Philadelphia “Pennsylvania, Philadelphia City Death Certificates, 1803-1915,” index and images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.3.1/TH-266-11110-64044-12?cc=1320976 : accessed 29 Sep 2014), 004000970 > image 141 of 448; citing Department of Records.

I am sorry that I do not have any photographs of Sigmund. He must have been an interesting man—adventurous, courageous, generous, respected, and well-liked by his fellow Santa Fe citizens. His life may have been short, but by going to Santa Fe, he not only made a good life for himself, he helped out his community, and he provided a good foundation for his two younger brothers and their families.

Gau-Algesheim and the Seligmans: My Great-great-grandfather’s Birthplace and What I Learned

Jews on the Santa Fe Trail 1848-1871: My Great-Great-Grandfather Bernard Seligman and his Brothers

Posted on September 30, 2014 by Amy

Sign for Santa Fe National Historic Trail. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

My great-great-grandfather Bernard Seligman was born on November 23, 1837 in Gau-Algesheim, Germany. When I learned about the small town in Germany where my great-great-grandfather Bernard Seligman was born, I was not surprised that he had decided to move away when he reached adulthood. Gau-Algesheim was itself a very small town, and the Jewish population was tiny—perhaps 60-80 people during the 1840s and 1850s when Bernard was growing up. The opportunities for a young Jewish man must have been very limited—socially and economically. My research of the town indicated that by 1900 the Jewish population had declined dramatically. My great-great-grandfather and his brothers were therefore not unlike many others who moved out of their small hometown to seek greater opportunities.

Before leaving Germany, Bernard received what was described as a “first class education in the public and commercial schools of his native land where he also gained considerable actual business experience while employed a wholesale establishment there.”[1] According to a book written in 1925 by Ralph Emerson Twitchell, then the official state historian for New Mexico, Bernard Seligman had been associated with the Rothschild banking house in Frankfort-on-the-Main before coming to the US.[2]

Bernard was not the first of the Seligman brothers to arrive in the United States. His older brother Sigismund or Sigmund, born in 1830 in Gau-Algesheim, had arrived in Santa Fe in 1849. At first, Sigmund found work as a photographer, running a daguerreotype portrait studio for a few years.[3] But within a few years he and another recent German immigrant named Charles Clever “formed a business partnership … under the firm name and style of Seligman and Clever, engaging in general merchandizing and freighting over the old [Santa Fe] Trail.”[4]

This photo is claimed to be the oldest photograph of Santa Fe, taken about 1855. You can see the sign for Seligman and Clever on the right. At one time one of the streets in this photograph was called Seligman Street.

Palace of the Governors Photo Archives, Negative 10695 courtesy of http://www.vocesdesantafe.org/index.php/explore-our-history/santa-fe/item/1090-my-grandfathers-birthplace-on-the-santa-fe-plaza

Sigmund’s younger brother Bernard, my great-great-grandfather, arrived in the United States on March 23, 1857, coming aboard the ship Mercury and landing in New York. On the record for the passenger manifest it says that his occupation was a merchant.[5] Twitchell wrote that Bernard initially settled near Philadelphia and worked for a cotton manufacturing business.[6] He is said to have arrived in Santa Fe in 1858, taking a position in his brother Sigmund’s business, according to Bernard’s obituary. [7]

When Sigmund’s partner Charles Clever resigned from the business a few years later to become a lawyer, Bernard became a partner with his brother Sigmund in the business, and it was renamed S. Seligman and Bro. Some years later a third brother, Adolph, born in 1845, also settled in Santa Fe and joined his brothers’ business in the 1860s.[8]

As described by William J. Parish in “The German Jew and the Commercial Revolution in Territorial New Mexico 1850-1900,” New Mexico Historical Review, Vol. 35, p. 1 (1960), until the arrival of Jewish German immigrants like the Seligmans, the trade conditions in the New Mexico territory were quite rudimentary, a few small stands relying upon traveling merchants to provide them with merchandise. According to Parish, heavy taxes and the high cost and risk of travel made many reluctant to deal in the region. Storekeepers could not rely on these traveling merchants to supply an adequate inventory of goods. Thus, few merchants established permanent roots in the area.

English: “Arrival of the caravan at Santa Fe” — Copy of original lithograph ca. 1844 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

These conditions provided a substantial opportunity for Jewish German immigrants like my ancestors, the Seligmans. Beginning in the 1840s around the time that Sigmund immigrated, there were a number of recent Jewish German immigrants who brought a thriving economic base to Santa Fe and other New Mexican cities based on transporting goods from the eastern United States over the Santa Fe trail to the New Mexican territory recently acquired by the US after the Mexican War ended.[9]

As postulated by Parish, German Jews came to the US with a particularly good background to take advantage of these entrepreneurial opportunities. Parish discusses how historically Jews in Western Europe, although foreclosed from entering many trades, had been allowed to take on the role of the moneylender, a livelihood to which Christians had an aversion and, in some cases, a religious opposition, thus leaving that unpopular job for their Jewish neighbors. Although this created some hostility and resentment (as seen, of course, in The Merchant of Venice and the character of Shylock), it also provided Jewish men with the opportunity to develop skills in banking, business, and capitalism. Jewish immigrants brought these skills with them to the US wherever they settled, and, as Parish points out, those who came to New Mexico had a profound impact on the fledgling economy that existed there.

This is a photograph of my great-great-grandfather Bernard Seligman (far left) with two other Santa Fe merchants, Zadoc Staab and Lehman Spiegelberg, and two Kiowa Indian scouts.

Freighters on the Santa Fe Trail, Bernard Seligman, Zadoc Staab, Lehman Spiegelberg and Kiowa Indian scouts Palace of the Governors Photo Archives, New Mexico History Museum, Santa Fe

The growth of the economy is illustrated by the growth in the number of Jewish merchants in Santa Fe from 1850 to 1870. In 1850 there were eight such merchants; by 1860 that number had doubled to sixteen.[10] By 1870 it had doubled again to 32; clearly, my relatives had arrived at the right place at the right time.[11] These merchants were not transient traveling merchants. They established permanent businesses and stayed in the community.

Twitchell provided this vivid description of the scale of the Seligman brothers’ business:

“A Fair exemplar of the magnitude of the business of this firm is recorded in the fact that one caravan, conducted by firm, loaded at the Missouri river eighty-three wagons of merchandise consigned to the firm at Santa Fé, each wagon carrying not less than three tons of high class freight. Another record in the books of the firm shows the payment of $30,000 in transportation charges on one caravan alone, all of the merchandise having been disposed of to New Mexican buyers within the brief period of three weeks after arrival in Santa Fé[. N]early three quarters of a century disclose an aggregate of more than fifteen millions of dollars.”[12]

Courtesy of Arthur Scott http://www.vocesdesantafe.org/index.php/explore-our-history/architecturebuildings/item/283-exchange-hotel-ca-1886

Thus, by the 1860s, the Seligman Brothers’ business was thriving. They and the other Jewish merchants had brought a reliable source of goods to Santa Fe for the first time.

These merchants, however, were not involved in any of the traditional practices of Jewish life. According to Henry J. Tobias, the author of The History of the Jews in New Mexico, although these men identified as Jews, there was no evidence of any regular Jewish observance in Santa Fe during those early days—no evidence of a synagogue or any form community prayer or celebration, no observance of dietary laws.[13] The Jewish population was less than five percent of one percent of the overall population at that time, and the Jews had to adapt to living in a culture where they were such a tiny segment of the community.

Most of the Jewish residents in the 1860s were single men, although a few women and families were starting to arrive. In 1860 there was a celebration of Yom Kippur at the home of Levi Spiegelberg, another Jewish merchant, who had recently married a Jewish woman from Germany. Tobias speculated that perhaps the arrival of Spiegelberg’s bride, one of only two Jewish women in the town at that time, made the others nostalgic for the traditions from back home and thus inspired this day long observance of fasting and prayer.[14]

After the Civil War[15] and after his younger brother Adolph had arrived in Santa Fe, Bernard moved back east to Philadelphia for several years. Parish pointed out that there were no Jewish single women in Santa Fe in the 1850s and 1860s, and that while some Jewish men intermarried, most went back east to find a Jewish woman to marry.[16] Sigmund never married, and Adolph did not marry until he was in his 60s, but Bernard went back east and found a Jewish woman from Pennsylvania, my great-great-grandmother Frances Nusbaum. She was born in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, in 1845, but by 1860 she and her family had moved to Philadelphia. Bernard and Frances married on March 28, 1865, and my great-grandmother Eva (named Evalynn at birth) was born the following year on May 27, 1866 in Philadelphia. According to the Philadelphia city directories for 1867, Bernard was in business with his Nusbaum in-laws at that time.

On August 17, 1867, Bernard and Frances had a second daughter, Florence; the baby only lived five weeks and died on September 26, 1867. She was buried at Mt. Sinai cemetery in Philadelphia, along with many of the Nusbaum family members (and also many of my Cohen relatives). A third child, James Leon Seligman, was born on August 11, 1868, and then another daughter, Minnie, was born on October 31, 1869. All of these children were born in Philadelphia, and Bernard, Frances and the three surviving children are all listed in the 1870 census as living in Philadelphia in the 13^th Ward. Bernard is also listed in 1871 in the Philadelphia directory.

Bernard, however, must have been traveling back and forth between Santa Fe and Philadelphia because he is also listed in Santa Fe on the 1870 census, living with his brother Sigmund and two clerks. Bernard is listed as owning $25,000 worth of real estate and $20,000 in personal property. (Strangely, Sigmund only claimed $20,000 in personal property and no real estate, despite being the founder of the store and the full time resident.)

At some point, however, in 1871, Bernard and Frances and their children relocated to Santa Fe, and their last child, Arthur Seligman, was born on June 14, 1871, in Santa Fe, the first family member to be born in that city. According to Twitchell, Frances Nusbaum Seligman was one of only eight women living in Santa Fe at that time who did not come from a Spanish background. Twitchell described my great-great-grandmother as “a woman of rare beauty, great intelligence and charming personality.”[17] Although I will write about the Nusbaum family at a later time, for now I can say that they were a large and successful Philadelphia family with a German Jewish background; it must have been very difficult for Frances to leave her family behind and move all the way to Santa Fe, a frontier town far different from Philadelphia.

My great-grandmother Eva was only five years old when she made that cross-country trip with her parents and her siblings, leaving Philadelphia temporarily behind. She lived there for ten years, and when she was fifteen years old, she returned to Philadelphia for college and married my great-grandfather Emanuel Cohen when she was twenty. She lived in Philadelphia for the rest of her life. But most of the Seligman family developed and maintained deep roots in Santa Fe, ties that still exist today for many of their descendants.

In my posts to follow, I will first write about the years that my great-grandmother lived in Santa Fe, 1871-1881, and about her family. Then I will write about the years that followed, including the story of my great-great-uncle Arthur Seligman and his career as a political leader and ultimately governor of New Mexico.

Santa Fe Trail around 1845 plus connecting trading routes to commercial hubs and ports in the USA (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

[1] “A Good and True Man Called Home,” Santa Fe New Mexican, February 3, 1903.

[2] Ralph Emerson Twitchell, Old Santa Fe: The Story of New Mexico’s Ancient Capital (The Rio Grande Press 1925), pp 476-478. I found a few errors in Twitchell’s account of Bernard Seligman, including the birth year of his brother Sigmund and the birth places of his first three children. I cannot independently verify some of his other assertions, unfortunately, but report them here as they were reported in Twitchell’s book.

[3] Arthur Scott, “My Grandfather’s Birthplace on the Santa Fe Plaza,” found at http://www.vocesdesantafe.org/index.php/explore-our-history/santa-fe/item/1090-my-grandfathers-birthplace-on-the-santa-fe-plaza

[4] Twitchell, p. 477. It is important to note that there was an entirely separate Seligman family that settled in Bernalillo, New Mexico around the same time that my Seligman ancestors were settling in Santa Fe. As far as I can tell, there is no familial relationship between the two families and the “other” Seligmans came from a different region in Germany, but one never knows. Henry Tobias and Sarah Payne, “Jewish Pioneers of New Mexico: The Seligman Family” (The New Mexico Jewish Historical Society, 2005).

[5] United States Germans to America Index, 1850-1897,” index, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/KDWS-R3N : accessed 20 Sep 2014), Bernhard Seligmann, 23 Mar 1857; citing Germans to America Passenger Data file, 1850-1897, ARC identifier 1746067; Ship Mercury, departed from Havre, arrived in New York, New York, New York, United States, National Archives and Records Administration, Washington D.C.)

[6] Twitchell, p. 477. Bernard’s obituary claimed that he had come to Santa Fe directly after immigrating, but it makes sense that he would have spent some time in the east since he arrived in NY in 1857 and is said to have arrived in Santa Fe in 1858. Also, perhaps it was that initial stay in Philadelphia that caused him to return to Philadelphia some years later and to meet and marry my great-great-grandmother.

[7] “A Good and True Man Called Home,” Santa Fe New Mexican, February 3, 1903.

[8] Arthur Scott, “Seligman Brothers—Pioneer Jewish Entrepreneurs of Santa Fe and the New Mexico Territory,” http://www.newmexicohistory.org/people/seligman-brothers-pioneer-jewish-entrepreneurs-of-santa-fe-and-the-new-mexi

[9] Parish; also, Gunther Paul Barth, Instant Cities: Urbanization and the Rise of San Francisco and Denver

(Oxford University Press, 1975), pp. 71-73.

[10] Parish, p. 15. See also Henry J. Tobias, A History of the Jews of New Mexico (Univ. N. Mex. Press. 1990), p. 40-41.

[11] Parish, p. 15

[12] Twitchell, p.477.

[13] Tobias, pp. 43-44.

[14] Tobias, pp. 42-43.

[15] During the Civil War, Bernard served as a captain and quarter master for the Union Army. Arthur Scott, “Seligman Brothers—Pioneer Jewish Entrepreneurs of Santa Fe and the New Mexican Territory,” at http://www.newmexicohistory.org/people/seligman-brothers-pioneer-jewish-entrepreneurs-of-santa-fe-and-the-new-mexi See also Tobias, p. 54.

[16] Parish, p. 23, 129.

[17] Twitchell, p. 477.

Gau-Algesheim and the Seligmans: My Great-great-grandfather’s Birthplace and What I Learned

The Seligmans: My New Mexican Ancestors—An Introduction

Posted on September 19, 2014 by Amy

Flag of New Mexico

Although my parents did not talk very much about their ancestors or families when I was a child, one of the claims my father often made with pride was that his great-uncle had been the governor of New Mexico. I used to find this both amusing and irrelevant. A seemingly distant relative who died 20 years before I was born? Why would I care about that? And New Mexico? How could we possibly have a relative—a Jewish relative—who came from New Mexico? We were from New York and Philadelphia—we were not from the Southwest; we were not cowboys. Who was this relative, and how in the world did he get to be a governor? It all seemed rather preposterous—like saying we were descended from Napoleon or George Washington.

Not that I doubted that my father was telling the truth. It just seemed unimportant to me—until I started to delve into my family’s history. As I started to research and read about this side of my family, I realized how remarkable and interesting a story it is and what a uniquely American story it is. But before I get to that story, I need to begin at the end and explain how the story of the New Mexican Seligmans is part of my family’s story.

I have written quite a bit about my great-grandparents, Emanuel and Eva M. Cohen, and in particular about my great-grandmother Eva. You may recall that it was Emanuel and Eva who took in Emanuel’s brother Isaac and his teenage son when Isaac’s wife died. It was Emanuel and Eva who opened their home for Emanuel’s uncle Jonas’ funeral. And it was Eva who took care of my father and his sister for almost ten years when my grandparents were both unable to do so. Both my father and his cousin Marjorie have described Eva as the sweetest, most loving, and kindest woman.

Eva was a Seligman, the daughter of Bernard Seligman and Frances Nusbaum. She was born in 1866 in Philadelphia, but moved with her parents to Santa Fe, New Mexico when she was a young girl. She returned east to go to Swarthmore College outside of Philadelphia, and while there, she met Emanuel Cohen and married him in 1886 when she was only twenty years old.

Eva Cohen in the Swarthmore Bulletin 1885-1886

https://archive.org/details/annualcatalogueo1885swar

Marriage announcement of Emanuel Cohen and Eva Seligman

(Matrimony Notice, Friday, February 5, 1886, Jewish Messenger (New York, NY) Volume: 59 Issue: 6 Page: 6)

Together she and Emanuel had four sons, one of whom, Herbert, died as a toddler. Their son Maurice ended his own life after suffering from cancer, and their son John, my grandfather, was disabled by multiple sclerosis as a young man when my father was just a little boy. So Eva endured more than her fair share of tragedy, yet somehow she remained a positive and loving person who seemed to have an incredible ability to care for others.

One of my great disappointments was not having a photograph of Eva. She wrote inscriptions on many of the photographs I have of my father and his sister, but she must have been taking many of the pictures and thus is not in any of those in my family’s collection. I suppose that is consistent with what I know about her—someone who was focused on others and not on herself.

My father and his cousin Marjorie are the only surviving grandchildren of Eva and Emanuel Cohen, and my siblings and I are the only great-grandchildren. In the last few weeks, I’ve been very fortunate to receive from Marjorie’s maternal cousin Lou a number of photographs of Marjorie and others, and I was thrilled to be able to see the face of the woman with whom I’d had such wonderful conversations this summer. Below are several photographs of Marjorie as a child and as a young woman, including some with and of her parents Stanley and Bess Cohen.

Stanley Cohen World War I

Marjorie and her mother Bess

Marjorie and her father Stanley

Stanley Cohen 1928

Marjorie 1933

Marjorie and Bess 1933

Marjorie with Pete from Our Gang

Marjorie and her parents Stanley and Bess Cohen at her graduation from Trinity (DC), c. 1947

Marjorie and her parents at her graduation from Trinity (DC), c. 1947

Marjorie as a student at NY Dramatic Arts Academy

Marjorie and her father Stanley 1981

Included in that group of photographs was a photograph that Lou had labeled as Bess and Stanley 1923, but when I showed it to my father, he said that it was his parents, John and Eva (Schoenthal) Cohen. When I compared it to the only other photograph I have of my grandparents together, it was obvious that this was John and Eva, not Stanley and Bess. I was delighted to have another picture of my grandparents.

Eva (Schoenthal) and John Cohen, Jr. 1923

John and Eva Cohen
c. 1930

Also mixed into the group of photos from Marjorie’s cousin Lou were a few taken in Atlantic City during the summer of 1932 that finally allow me to see the face of my great-grandmother Eva Seligman Cohen. I will post those in a later post.

Brotmanblog: A Family Journey

Adventures in Genealogy

Category Archives: Santa Fe

Morton Tinslar Seligman: Naval Hero, Part I

My Great-grandmother’s Brother James Leon Seligman: Philadelphia to Santa Fe to Salt Lake to Santa Fe

Seligman Brothers Company 1849-1928: The Rise and Fall of an American Business

Adolph Seligman: A Rift in the Family?

My Seligman Great-Great-Grandparents: Two Pioneers Who Made A Difference with Integrity and Kindness

Bernard Seligman: His Political Career and His Family 1870-1890

Sigmund Seligman: “A Beloved Friend to Humanity and an Uncompromising Lover of His Country”

Jews on the Santa Fe Trail 1848-1871: My Great-Great-Grandfather Bernard Seligman and his Brothers

The Seligmans: My New Mexican Ancestors—An Introduction

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